Alone in the Night
by LexG
Summary: "Evelyn had a troubled childhood." All of her teachers and mentors had said a phrase like that once, and every time they did Evelyn always laughed. Understatement of the century. (Maurader era. Probably wont be a happy story.)
1. The Beginning or the End?

_Evelyn_ _Moss_ _knew she was being hunted._ She had accepted that fact long ago. She was only nine years old and she had already been attacked twice, once in her own home and once out in the open, surrounded by muggles. She no longer felt safe anywhere. She lay in her bed and tried to push all thought about her _father -_ the word felt like poison in her mind, slowly polluting her thoughts and happiness -out of her head. Her eyes were closed, and she had just relaxed when she heard the first scream.

The scream had echoed through the house, and Evelyn sat up straight instantly, fear filling her. She stared at her door with tears running down her cheeks, listening. The more she strained her ears, the faster her heartbeat got. Quiet footsteps got louder every second, and finally the door to her room slid open and her brother quickly stepped in, his eyes wild and his face full of fear. He gathered her up in his arms and silently hushed her, and together they snuck down the hallway to her parent's darkened bedroom.

He had given her specific instructions not to move. He placed her under the bed and took off, back out the door where he came, wand in his hand and determination written all over his face. She couldn't see anything, and the house was deathly silent. It felt like hours that she stayed under that bed and strained to hear anything, any sign that maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright.

And then the sound of a door slamming filled the air. She heard a shout from downstairs, "Where are you?!" and then loud thumps of footsteps, coming down the hallway and - thankfully - passing her door. She held her breath. She knew that voice, knew it very well. She heard a vicious laugh from the other side of the door, then the loud footfalls of someone running down the hallway. There was an unintelligible shout, a strangled cry, and then a bright flash of green spilled in through the crack under the door. And then it slowly faded, and she was left in silence and darkness again.

The sound of light footsteps falling in the hallway reached her ears. He was coming to her, inching ever closer to the door. She had to do something, she knew, but what could she do? She was scared senseless. Her eyes flicked wildly around the room, hoping for anything, any way out.

The door handle began to turn, she could hear it. Slowly, light poured in from the crack beginning to form in the doorway, and her eyes strained to adjust to the light. Her heartbeat was echoed in her ears and the thought crossed her mind that whoever this was might hear it. She closed her eyes tightly and held her breath.

Evelyn heard a sharp intake of breath. She opened her eyes to see a figure standing in the doorway, (much too big to be her brother, her mind seemed to scream at her, which meant... she felt sick), and then she glanced around the room once more. The left corner was still somewhat dark, but when she strained her eyes she saw it. Lying in the corner, in a puddle of blood, was a body. Her heart stopped, and she dug her nails into the floor. No. This wasn't happening. This couldn't happen.

Her mother lay dead, not ten feet from her. She didn't know how long she had been that close to her. Was she alive when she came in? Did she miss her chance to say goodbye? The world seemed to spin and Evelyn felt dizzy. The last thing she remembered was a scream - her scream - and then the world went black.

Evelyn awoke with a start in a hospital, her eyes frantically looking around for danger. She was alone. That fact finally sunk in, and she began to sob.

* * *

A loud crash awoke her from her terrible dreams, and she shot up out of bed, looking around instantly for the source of the noise. She let out a silent sigh of relief when it finally dawned on her that the source of the noise had been her cat, Mittens, knocking things off of her table. It had been two years since the incident - which is what her foster mother, Sharon, called it - and she still had trouble with any loud noises. She inwardly groaned and climbed out of bed, heading to the bathroom.

Today, Evelyn turned eleven years old, and she was thrilled. As thrilled as she could manage, that is. Her heart was heavy despite the excitement. Her mother wouldn't be around to see her go to Hogwarts. She'd not get to wave goodbye to her from the train. There would be no letters coming to her. She looked at herself in the mirror and wiped the tears off her pale face.

"Sweetie?" Sharon's gentle voice called up the stairs, "You're going to be late."

Evelyn took a long, deep breath. She would survive. She always survived. She got dressed and stepped out of her bathroom. Sharon sat in her room, smiling sweetly at her.

"Are you ready?" Sharon asked?

"As I'll ever be." Evelyn replied, forcing a smile.


	2. A Trip on the Train

As Evelyn stepped onto the train she felt a rush of sadness, despite herself. _How could she feel happy,_ she thought to herself, _if she didn't have her family? Her brother should be here. Sitting with her, waving at their mother out the window together, joking and making new friends._

She trudged miserably down the train, looking for an empty compartment. Each compartment she passed seemed to be full of people, laughing and joking. Her mind spun with images of what could have been. She opened an empty compartment and climbed inside, fighting back tears. She would not cry in front of anyone. This was not how she would be known. She wouldn't be bullied for being the _'girl who cries all the time.'_ She took a deep breath to steady herself. A book, she decided, would be perfect to keep her mind from betraying her.

She dug in her trunk for a moment, before pulling out a potions book and opening it randomly. She read silently, her eyes scanning the pages and seeing the words but never quite absorbing them. The compartment door slid open and she glanced up. Her dull blue eyes met vibrant green eyes, and she was immediately met with a barrage of words:

"Do you mind if we sit here? We... everywhere else is full," the girl said quickly, "I'm Lily, and this is Severus, and I -"

Her words faded as Evelyn examined the two. Lily was a beautiful girl, with auburn hair that was currently flying everywhere as she talked quickly. Her face was flushed and her hand, holding the compartment door open, was white with barely concealed rage. Evelyn cocked her head to the side and looked past her, towards the boy hovering awkwardly behind her. The boy — Severus, she remembered — was a very strange sort. For a moment, their eyes met, and he quickly looked away. His hair hung in his face, and his clothes didn't quite fit him right. She felt a deep pang of pity strike her as she looked at him, though she wasn't quite sure why.

"— And can you believe that boy said that to us?" Lily's tirade had finally finished.

Evelyn shook her head. "That's unbelievable. Please, come in."

She had absolutely no idea what she had just said was unbelievable, but Lily seemed spurred on by her agreement and launched into another sentence.

"He had no right to talk to Sev like that," Lily grouched, looking over at the boy in question, "but you shouldn't have said what you did, either."

Severus' dark eyes widened for a moment, and he looked over at her, as if he was going to argue, then he looked away. Evelyn caught his eyes once more and could swear she saw a hint of sadness in them.

"What house do you want to be in, Evelyn?" Lily's voice broke their eye contact and Evelyn turned to look at her.

"I... don't know. I'm not sure. Somewhere I can feel —" She began, then cut herself off mid-sentence, "Somewhere I can fit in."

"That sounds a lot like Hufflepuff," Lily thought aloud, "Maybe that's where you'd feel most comfortable."

Somehow, Evelyn doubted that. She thought back to her books about Hogwarts and all the houses. Hufflepuff was known for patience, friendship, and loyalty. She didn't think that fit her personality very well. She thought for a moment about the other three houses.

Gryffindor, where the brave and daring dwell, didn't fit her either. Ravenclaw, perhaps, but she wasn't sure.

"No," she began, only to met with a confused look from the two, so she continued, "I don't think I'd fit in well there... Maybe Ravenclaw, or —"

Her mind filled with images of her brother, coming home dressed in black and green robes, talking excitedly about Hogwarts and all his classes.

"Slytherin," her voice was rough and shaky, but she continued, "I think I would like to be in Slytherin."

Her eyes met Severus', and he gave her a small smile, before immediately covering his face with his hair again. She returned the smile, then looked over at Lily. "And you?"

The rest of the trip was filled with talk of Hogwarts, and all the excitement that came with it. Evelyn smiled, despite herself, as for the first time of the entire trip, Severus launched into a long talk about what he was excited about. Occasionally, he would glance over at Lily, and then continue on. That poor boy has it bad, Evelyn thought to herself, and Lily doesn't even realize.


	3. Sorting

_The train ride had gone well enough_ , Evelyn supposed, _people were friendly to her, at least._ The large crowd of students had crossed the lake in boats, something that had filled her with dread until she realized they were apparently charmed not to tip over, and then been lead by a very rough looking man — she thought he had once spat out something about his name being Filch? — into the castle. Now they stood in front of a door, waiting patiently to enter the great hall.

Lily stood to the left of her, glaring at someone — a boy with messy brown hair and hazel eyes, he was quite handsome, but he had a smug smirk on his face that ruined any appeal — and behind Lily stood Severus, looking at the floor. Evelyn glanced around silently, taking in the faces of the group of first years she stood with. She felt incredibly uncomfortable standing in this large crowd, and without realizing it, stepped closer to Lily.

A tall witch with stunning emerald eyes stepped out from the door front of them, and she began explaining what would happen during the sorting.

"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall -" She had begun, and Evelyn stopped listening.

Evelyn tried to pay attention, but her eyes kept wandering away to look around at the massive castle they stood in. There was so much to look at, from the torches on the walls to the beautiful marble staircase, and she felt rather overwhelmed at the sight of it all.

She forced the rising nervousness down and looked back at the woman, who had since introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, head of the Gryffindor house, and the transfiguration teacher. With a flourish of her wand, McGonagall opened the double doors to the Great Hall.

Evelyn's breath caught in her throat as she got her first peek into the room. There were four long tables on one side of the room. They were each colored differently, she assumed each table was for a specific house, and they had large banners hanging above them. The tables seemingly stretched on farther than she could see, and each of those tables was packed with people. Her knees suddenly felt weak as she felt so many eyes on her, and the silence in the room felt deafening. She had to remind herself to breathe. _Not just you,_ she tried to convince herself, _you're in a big crowd, there's no way they're looking at just you._ She let out a shaky breath and forced her eyes away from the tables, and she took in the beautiful view above her. There were thousands upon thousands of candles, floating! They looked like stars, twinkling, and Evelyn realized with a start that this was because the ceiling didn't appear to be a ceiling at all, rather a beautiful stormy night sky, and she found herself checking the walls of the room to be sure she wasn't actually outside.

Professor McGonagall had moved to the front of the room and placed a small stool in front of all the first years. Then, after walking off to grab it, she returned and placed an old, worn hat on top of the stool. Evelyn looked at it curiously, wondering if this was the hat her brother had spoken about. It surely fit the description, she thought, as he had described it as a very ugly old thing. As she watched, the seam on the front of the hat slowly ripped open, and it began to sing.

Evelyn watched, half in awe and half in horror, as this hat sung them a song about the houses. It seemed to go on for ages, and by the end of it, she found that she would have rather stood in silence and let everyone stare at her. After a moment of surprised murmuring from the students, McGonagall stepped up again and produced a scroll from her robes, and unfurled it.

"When I call your name," she announced, her voice cutting off all murmuring in the room, "you will come forward and sit on this stool to be sorted."

Evelyn let out a shaky gasp of horror, she'd have to sit in front of all these people? She felt Lily's hand reach out and grab her arm, and she steeled herself. She could do this. This wouldn't be an issue at all. _What did her brother do,_ she thought, _how did he handle this?_ She found herself thinking about him and her mother, and how proud they'd be of her if she managed to do this. She swelled with pride and bit back any further nervousness. The first student had been called, and the hat let out a resounding, "RAVENCLAW!"

The student, a boy with mousy brown hair and a nervous complexion, allowed McGonagall to take the hat off of him, and took off, quickly walking to the table with the blue banner over it.

The other students' sortings all went by relatively quickly, with most seeming to go to Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, with the occasional Slytherin and Ravenclaw mixed in, and then McGonagall called, "Evans, Lily!" And off Lily went, looking back towards Evelyn and Severus nervously.

She gently sat down on the stool, and the hat was placed over her head. Evelyn looked back and saw Severus waiting with bated breath. She suddenly felt very nervous. What would she do if she got into a house with no one she knew?

Before she could entertain that thought much longer the hat sprung to life again, shouting, "GRYFFINDOR!" Severus' face fell and she practically felt the disappointment roll off him in waves.

Lily started down towards the Gryffindor table, a guilty look on her face, and shot an apologetic glance toward Severus. Evelyn nudged him, murmuring, "It's not like you'll never see her again." This seemed to cheer him up a bit, but not much.

The rest of the sorting seemed to fly by, and suddenly it was her turn. She wrung her hands as she walked to the stool, and took a deep, steadying, breath. This would be okay. She would be alright. She had to be, she decided. She dropped her hands to her sides and walked confidently the rest of the way to the stool. As she sat, McGonagall placed the hat gently atop Evelyn's black hair.

A voice suddenly echoed in her mind, "Ahhh, a Moss. I knew your brother. Yes, yes..."

Her eyes widened, but she thought back, "You did?"

The hat laughed jovially, "Indeed I did, you're quite like him you know, cunning, sly... a touch nervous, but nothing you can't work out... Fiercely loyal. I think you belong in,"

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat finished this thought aloud, and Evelyn felt a rush of pride.

She had done it. She got into Slytherin. Her brother would be so proud of her. She rushed down to the table, sitting down beside a strikingly beautiful blonde girl, and sunk into thought.


	4. Friends?

Evelyn sighed and laid her head on the table. This essay was killing her. She was three pages in and she had no idea how to finish. A quiet throat clearing from behind her drew her out of her misery, and she spun in her chair to see Lily. Lily was standing with her arms behind her back, and a guilty expression on her face. Evelyn motioned for her to sit down, and Lily began to talk immediately.

"Can I tell you something?" She asked, chewing on her bottom lip lightly.

"Of course, Lily. You can tell me anything," Evelyn replied, "You know I'm always here for you, even though we don't talk much."

Lily seemed to debate whether on telling her or not for a moment, and then suddenly:

"I asked the sorting hat to put me in Gryffindor. It wanted to put me in Slytherin." She said, so quickly Evelyn nearly didn't understand her.

Evelyn sat quietly for a moment, and then nodded.

"Okay. That's not too big of a deal, Lily. You wanted to be in the house you felt most comfortable with." She reasoned.

Lily shook her head, "No. It wasn't that. I..." She looked down at the Slytherin crest on Evelyn's robes, "After the argument Sev and I had with Potter, I thought for a long time about what Potter had said."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, and motioned for her to go on.

"Well, he said that.. that he'd rather leave the school than be in Slytherin, and a bunch more comments about all Slytherins are evil. And then when we got into the group of students a lot were talking about the houses and, I don't know. I didn't know what to think, but when they put that hat on me and it was sorting me, all I could think was 'Please not Slytherin, I promise I'm not evil.' And then it put me in Gryffindor," Lily explained, her voice getting quieter and shaky.

Evelyn stiffened as she listened to Lily's confession. "Lily. Does Severus know this?"

"No," Lily sniffled, "I felt awful afterwards and I couldn't bring myself to tell him."

Evelyn looked in Lily's eyes, watching them well up in tears.

"Do I look evil, Lily?" She questioned, her voice hard.

"No! No, no. You and Severus aren't evil! I... the rest of Slytherin.." Lily cried, "You're not like everyone else in Slytherin."

Her voice dripped venom as she said the words everyone else, and Evelyn let out a disbelieving huff of air.

"I thought you weren't like everyone else either, Lily. But... grouping all Slytherins as evil? Maybe we were both wrong." Evelyn stood up quickly, shoving her chair under the desk rather roughly and walking away from Lily, leaving the library without looking back.

She let out a steadying breath of air as she walked down the hallway, staring at the floor. Lily had been a good friend for the last few months that Evelyn had been at Hogwarts. But this...Evelyn wasn't entirely sure she could let this stand. She considered the Slytherins family, something she hadn't had in a long time. Her hand reflexively tightened around her wand.

She looked up just in time to avoid walking directly into Lucius Malfoy. His lips curled into an smirk as he stepped a bit back, looking down at her wand hand and then back at her.

"Seem a bit worked up there, Eve," he drawled, "Did something happen?"

"No, Lucius," Evelyn managed to force a smile, and tucked her wand back into her robe, feeling quite sick, "Just learned something that I wish I had known ages ago, that's all."

His grey eyes were filled with worry, but he nodded and stepped aside, allowing her to continue her stroll back to the Slytherin common room.

"Oh, by the way," he yelled at her as she walked off, "Severus is looking for you."

Evelyn let out a loud sigh. This was going to be difficult. She stepped into the common room, quickly glancing around, hoping that he wasn't there.

A lone shape sat in the corner, hunched over a book and she recognized it instantly as Severus. She silently cursed and started back out the door, when he looked up.

"Oh, there you are, Evelyn," he smiled slightly, "Have you seen Lily today?"

Evelyn huffed. "Yes, I saw Lily. She's in the library. She..." Evelyn paused, she may be mad at Lily, but could she tell him? She decided she'd let Lily do the explaining. "She was looking for you. She said she had something to tell you."

Severus' face went red, and he nodded a bit and stood up. He towered over Evelyn as he approached her.

"Thanks. I'm going to go find her," he smiled brightly, "I'll see you later."

Evelyn unenthusiastically nodded, and took off quickly. She hurried to her dorm, throwing herself onto her bed.

The next day, Evelyn inwardly sighed as she thought about her first class of the day. Charms, with the Gryffindors. Normally, she sat near Lily, but today she was definitely not doing that. She stepped into the classroom, glancing around.

There weren't many open seats, but there was one by Narcissa, which she gratefully walked to, asking if she could sit.

Narcissa smiled at her and nodded, and she had a seat, looking around the classroom. Severus was there, his face sullen and covered by hair, Lucius had made a point to sit next to him. She glanced around the Gryffindors, her eyes focusing on Lily for a moment, before looking back down at the desk.


	5. Author's Note

Let me explain my reasoning behind these various timeskips. I want this to be a snapshot of Evelyn's life as she goes through what she's going through, not a step by step day to day story, if that makes sense? Therefore I'm going to leave out a lot of moments, like classes and stuff, and will periodically skip through time. I want this to be almost as if it's just her most important memories, in a way. Thanks for understanding.

Please feel free to review.


	6. Apologies

Evelyn honestly felt like screaming. She'd finally managed to put the argument with Lily out of her mind when Severus and Lily approached her together, looking at each other nervously. She looked up at them expectantly, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms.

"Severus," she greeted, nodding in his direction, "And... Lily. What a nice surprise." Her voice was cold and distant, and she sniffed with disdain.

"Evelyn.. we... - I think... -" Severus began, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

Lily cut him off quickly. "You're being quite rude, do you know that?" She crossed her arms in return and glared at Evelyn. She was much taller than Evelyn was, so she quite towered over her.

"Am I, now? I'm being rude?" Evelyn's voice raised a pitch, her eyebrows going up. "I'm the rude one? I never judged a group of people based on something they couldn't control. I never told anyone that all her friends were evil. I never-"

"You never gave Lily a chance to apologize." Severus' quiet voice cut off her rant, and she looked at him. He'd raised his head, and he stood much straighter. She felt her anger sinking away.

Severus was a good friend to her. He had been there for her through every breakdown, through every midnight trip to the hospital wing to get calming draughts. She sighed and rubbed her face. Memories flooded back of him and Lily assisting Evelyn when she couldn't complete homework, Lily and Evelyn laughing so hard their stomachs hurt. Evelyn's eyes began to well up with tears, but she blinked them away.

"Lily never tried to apologize, either." She mumbled, her voice shaky.

"I tried! Malfoy wouldn't let me near you!" Lily shouted, her face scrunched up in annoyance.

Evelyn made a mental note to thank Lucius later.

Lily took a deep breath. "Look. I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have said what I did, and.." Lily trailed off.

Severus nudged her lightly.

"And not all Slytherins are evil." She sounded like a child, being forced to apologize for something she wasn't at all sorry for.

Evelyn sighed. I wish you'd get to know some of them... they're the closest thing I've had to a family in years."

And they were. Lucius was like an older brother to her, and his girlfriend, Narcissa, was constantly making sure she had eaten and was well taken care of. Severus was her best friend. Regulus, even though he was younger than she was, was still a great friend. She knew they weren't without faults, but they certainly weren't evil. Sure, some of them were a bit dark, like Bellatrix, who, despite being a bit crazy, hexed anyone who even considered messing with Evelyn.

"I'll take your word for it." Lily looked off, clearly not interested in getting to know any Slytherins, and smiled softly to herself.

Evelyn followed her eyes and found herself looking at James Potter. He was smirking at Lily, and Lily was, apparently, loving it. Evelyn narrowed her eyes, wondering when this had happened. Before, Lily wouldn't give Potter the time of the day. Evelyn glanced back towards Severus and saw him looking at Potter with disdain and hurt in his eyes. She felt a pang of pity for him and coughed loudly, drawing Lily's attention back to her.

Lily blushed bright red and avoided her eyes.

"Right. Well, this has been fun," Evelyn began, slowly gathering her stuff, "but I think I'll need some time."

She grabbed her books and wand and took off, making it out of the library before running directly into something - someone, actually. She looked up, annoyed, into the face of James Potter.

She moved to step around him, but Potter stepped with her.

"Um, excuse me." She said, stepping again.

"You know, it's a real shame what happened to Joshua." He said, almost casually.

Evelyn's blood ran cold. Joshua was her brother's name.


End file.
